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Hockey

Hunter Smith helps take Generals past Oceanic in Memorial Cup

Oshawa Generals' goaltender Ken Appleby (35) makes a save against Rimouski Oceanic's Guillaume McSween (68) during the second period of their Memorial Cup hockey game in Quebec City, May 23, 2015 REUTERS/Christinne Muschi

So when the giant Oshawa forward watched Rimouski tie his first Memorial Cup game from the penalty box, he decided a brick wall wasn't going to stop him from making amends.

The Flames prospect grabbed the puck with 10 minutes left in the third, bulled down the ice past helpless Oceanic defender Simon Bourque and popped home his own rebound to give the OHL-champion Generals a 4-3 win before 8,904 Saturday at Pepsi Colisee.

"If we lost that game, I probably would've taken it right on my shoulders," the 19-year-old Windsor native said. "Bad penalty, allowing them to tie it, so (the) response was to get a goal and pick myself back up there."

It's nice to have the skill and size to do what you want on the ice when you put your mind to it. Rimouski goalie Philippe Desrosiers bobbled Smith' innocent-looking dump-in and that's exactly what he wanted.

"That was my plan," he said. "The way it bounced back, if the (defenceman's) not turned yet, he doesn't know where the puck is. I had the dominant hand and I was doing whatever I had to put that in.

"I got lucky. Just a nice little chip and it squeaked by his blocker. Put pucks on net, good things happen."

And when things turn south, you often need a big save to bail you out.

Oshawa, best in the junior hockey business at nursing a late lead, had a power play and offensive zone faceoff with 15 seconds left.

Turn off the lights, right?

Nope. Rimouski got one more glorious chance on the stick of their most dangerous player Alexis Loiseau, alone in the slot with one last shot to force overtime.

He rung it off Generals goalie Kenny Appleby's shoulder.

"He made a good save," the 21-year-old Oceanic forward Loiseau said. "It was close."

Appleby made a famous glove save on Erie star Connor McDavid in the clinching game of the OHL final. This one, considering the score and stakes, was bigger.

"I got a piece of it," the 6-foot-4 netminder said. "Last couple of seconds, I just had to make a save."

His teammates' heartbeats quickly returned to their normal rate. Appleby stood his ground on a 94-second 5-on-3 late in the first, then shut the door for good.

"Kenny makes big saves all the time," Smith said. "That's what he does. He's got to keep playing the way he is, we'll have success. We're the best defensive team for a reason. We kept it out of the net."

Timely, Oshawa coach D.J. Smith agreed, but he didn't think it would've counted anyway. At the start of this tournament, the rules committee adopted the Quebec league's legislation that allows a video goal judge to review missed offside infractions.

"We looked at it (on video) and I'm fairly sure it was offside and they would've reviewed it," D.J. Smith said.

The Oceanic, who kept fighting back in their marathon seven-game league victory over the Cup host Remparts, showed the same determination against Oshawa.

They bounced back from an early two-goal hole and knotted it up again on the Hunter Smith penalty. It just didn't happen a third time.

They never did grab the lead and the Generals are a handful to play against when they're ahead or at even terms.

"They took control of the game at the beginning and we were just not there," Loiseau said. "They play way better than us and it could've been way more than 4-3. We're better than this.

"He (Smith) is a big guy who works hard," Loiseau said. "but it's not a goal we're supposed to allow at this level."

Oshawa scored two of their other three goals on faceoff wins by Canadiens first-rounder Michael McCarron and Cole Cassels. The 6-foot-6 McCarron, who engaged Rimouski's 6-foot-7 Samuel Morin in the Cup's first fight, redeemed himself after being stripped by Leafs prospect Frederik Gauthier on a play that set up the Oceanic's third tally.

So he dug in and helped wear down Rimouski's attack with some textbook cycling late in the game.

"After getting pickpocketed, he wanted redemption," D.J. Smith said. "He's one of those guys the bigger the situation, the better he gets."

Even from the Pepsi Colisee rafters, you can clearly hear D.J. Smith bellowing orders at his Oshawa Generals.

Eric Wellwood, his only assistant coach on the bench, operates at a much lower decibel level.

"It's a Jekyll and Hyde thing," said Oshawa captain and shutdown defender Josh Brown. "(Smith) will come down the bench yelling and then (Wellwood, younger brother of Kyle) will tap you on the back like, 'Hey, man, you know what to do'.

"Having them both is awesome."

The Generals beat Rimouski 4-3 in their Memorial Cup opener Saturday, which allowed their head coach Smith to escape the angst from his first tournament visit as a Windsor assistant six years ago.

The Spitfires lost their first two games at, ironically enough, Rimouski before rallying to become the first team to win the Cup from such dire straits.

"When we got home, (Windsor head coach) Bob Boughner checked his emails from the week and the first 100 or so, from when we were 0-2 were all saying, 'We knew you wouldn't be able to do it'," Smith recalled, "and then the next 100, dated after we won, all said congratulations. They were probably from the same people. Some may have turned their back on us, but we never wavered."

Those Spits, the last back-to-back champs, dominated at the 2010 tourney in Brandon.

Wellwood played on both of those teams. He had an NHL shot in Philadelphia before suffering a career-ending injury (one of his skate blades sliced into his other leg) in the American league two years ago.

That's the same way Smith, with the Generals for the past three years, got behind the bench.

The former Leafs defenceman's on-ice career was derailed by concussion problems a decade ago, So then-Spitfires coach Dave Prpich asked him to help out.

"Everyone knows me -- I'm really hard structurally during a game, but I take care of you afterward," the 38-year-old Windsor native said. "You get Eric and he's fresh out of the game. Players look at him and say, 'He was just there (in the pros) and he's still in shape. He looks like a hockey player. (He) played for me and he's there to reinforce I might have broken them as young kids, but when they're struggling in the pros, I'm the first guy to call or they can call me.

"I want to help as many kids as I can. There's not a lot of coaches who are really pushing for you. They do their thing, then kind of forget you."

Another ex-Spit Greg Nemisz, a former Flames pick now in Carolina's system, is best buddies with Wellwood. After suffering a knee injury, he was home in Courtice, near Windsor, and went to a Generals game.

"He came down and right away, threw a couple things at me that made sense," Smith said. "I said, 'Well, you're hired'. I didn't know if he wanted it or not but he's here the rest of the year helping."

Nemisz is the team's eye-in-the-sky. He's connected to the bench by headset.